Thomas Tuchel explains why he did not bring on Romelu Lukaku from the bench during Chelsea’s 1-0 defeat at Everton
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has revealed why Romelu Lukaku was an unused substitute in their 1-0 Premier League defeat to Everton on Sunday, May 1.
The Belgian striker has been encountering a difficult return to Stamford Bridge and has recently lost his place in Tuchel's starting XI. Lukaku has just five goals and one assist in 23 Premier League appearances this season and continues to struggle for form.
Chelsea fell behind to a Richarlison strike and had the option to bring on their record-signing Lukaku. However, Tuchel brought on Christian Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech instead, keeping the Belgian on the bench.
Tuchel was asked why the club's record signing did not feature at Goodison Park. The Chelsea manager said that the half-time substitution of Jorginho was the reason (via Football London):
"Because we brought Jorginho off. We only had three changes."
The Blues have been criticised for their lack of goalscoring threat in recent games. Once again their attack seemed devoid of ideas and lacked the firepower to bring them back into the game against Everton.
Tuchel was asked what he needs to do to deal with the goalscoring issues for the Blues, to which he replied:
"If there is something I could do, I would try it."
He continued:
"The key for me is to have a clean sheet. It's a different game against Man United; the game was more open, and there were more chances. This was more like the game against West Ham, and against West Ham, we had a clean sheet and played without any big mistakes. If you fall behind against an atmosphere like this, instil belief in the opponent's team, you struggle."
#CFC
Zero minutes for Romelu Lukaku today vs Everton. Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel: “I didn’t bring on Lukaku because we brought Jorginho off. We only had three changes”. 🔵 #CFC https://t.co/C36BPZGcRl
Does Romelu Lukaku need to leave Chelsea?
Romelu Lukaku was a goalscoring machine at Inter Milan in the last two seasons. He fired them to the Serie A title last season, scoring 24 league goals. His remarkable record of 64 goals in 95 appearances for Inter saw Tuchel bring the Belgian to Stamford Bridge.
Lukaku arrived on a club-record fee of £97.8 million. However, after a bright start to life, his startling drop in form coincided with his off-the-field troubles as he has been in the headlines for the wrong reasons.
Clearly no way back for Lukaku at Chelsea. Being ignored in a game like this, a physical game when every other attacker has been terrible, just says that TT made his mind up on Rom months ago after the interview.
In December, the striker did a controversial interview with Sky Italia, where he criticised Tuchel's system before apologising to Inter Milan fans for the way he left. Lukaku also reiterated his desire to return to the Serie A giants.
He has backtracked from those comments comments but was subsequently hit with a £325,000 fine and a one-game ban by the Blues. Things have been downhill for Lukaku since then. He has lost his place in the starting XI, with his reduced game time unlikely to improve in the remainder of the season.
It remains to be seen if Lukaku stays put at Stamford Bridge or moves out for a change of fortunes.